A notable variation on a notable theme - Bristol Green glassware, a Regency and Victorian extravagance
So – Bristol Blue glass – nice and straightforward that was; a pair of
groundbreaking porcelain innovators, in the right place at the right
time with the right resources at their disposal and in the inclination
to make the most of out what was, in essence, a stroke of good fortune.
But what about the green glass, which also bears the name Bristol – how
did this particular commodity come about and become equally feted ?
As with blue colouration, green pigments had been used to tint
glassware, ceramics and many other products from antiquity. Egyptian
decorative tinctures and dyes, Roman mosaic tiles and enamels, Dark Age
pottery – all given a verdant hue by the use of naturally occurring
oxides of elements such as iron and copper.
So abundant and
relatively accessible were the sources of these pigments that they would
find their way unintentionally in to glass products. Bristol’s 17th
century manufactories, producing bottle and window glass would – as was
the case across the country – turn out what was commonly known as green
glass, which was coloured by residual trace metals in the sand from
which it was made. This glass was a “dirty” pale green or light brown,
and was used for utilitarian applications and was made in volume by
glasshouses under the auspices of Powell & Ricketts Co . Of course,
once flint glass with its greater clarity had been developed in the late
1600’s, the new material swiftly became a more popular medium, although
it wasn’t until the likes of Champion and Cookworthy demonstrated their
mastery of deliberately tinted cobalt blue glass that the search for
other purposefully coloured material was pursued in earnest.
It
would be too easy to assign the development and popularisation of
Bristol Green to this same pair of fabricators, but there is no evidence
whatsoever to suggest that this was the case. Cookworthy would
undoubtedly have been aware of at least the basic theories behind
producing green glass, as he would have come across it in his work on a
daily basis; as a chemist and apothecary he would have used any number
of glass vessels – retorts, test tubes, beakers, phials and vials – and
the convention for these items at the time was for them to have been
imported from Germany (or to a lesser extent made locally by William
Dunbar’s at Chepstow) where they were made of a relatively pale green
glass. The Quaker pharmacist would also know that oxide of chromium was
the base for green colouration used in his own nascent porcelain
business, but that this was a costly material to obtain, and available
in only limited quantities. French alchemist, Monsieur Fontanieu,
worked with distillates of copper oxide (known as “crystals of
verdigris”) and his results were good enough to produce rich, deep green
glass that “approximated artificial emeralds”, but not of a volume
anything like substantial enough to be of any commercial value.
By the time that Cookworthy died in 1780, it seems that there had been
some experimentation with the use of chromium oxides, but they were
still not widely available and it was not until the turn of the century
that definitive, properly-coloured green glass production is documented.
This manufacturing took place at the Nailsea glassworks of John Lucas,
son of a Bristol cooper, which had been set up in 1788 and primarily
produced window and bottle glass in its early years. The works
flourished, and Lucas was able to attract capable craftsmen who were
encouraged to “do their own thing” once standard production quotas had
been fulfilled and commissions completed for the week, and it seems
likely that this is sort of environment where the first “Bristol Green”
wares may have seen the light of day. The growth of the glassworks was
commensurate with both the discovery in Eastern Europe of considerable
deposits of crocoite ore (from which oxides of chromium can be readily
extracted) and the period to which early green glassware can be first be
dated and then became popular. It’s circumstantial evidence, certainly,
but in the absence of any other compelling depositions or declarations,
it is certainly worthy of consideration.
Suffice to say that
once the production process had been streamlined to a point where it
became financially viable to pursue, a steady stream of Bristol Green
glassware found its way on to the market. Its usage gives the impression
of being somewhat less aesthetic and ornamental in form that its blue
counterpart, a higher proportion of straightforward glasses and
decanters and fewer gilded extravagances are to be found, which may have
been down to the relative scarcity of the colourant compared to
Cookworthy’s stockpile of Saxon smalt. Whatever the reason, though, it’s
more of a Regency and early Victorian commodity than the slightly
earlier Bristol Blue wares, but pieces can be no less striking
regardless.
As ever, follow the link below to our index page for
all currently listed Bristol Green items, and if you do have any more
information about its development, please do share it with us…
